The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is working to establish a framework of standards and rules for the use of artificial intelligence in the military. NATO has called AI a necessary technology to maintain an advantage over potential adversaries, but with 30 member states each having different priorities on the issue, the subject is obviously complex.

If NATO seems to be taking the lead on the issue of AI use in the military, it’s because the organization sees itself as a good framework for such regulation. Indeed, it brings together 30 countries and it is in this sense that Mircea Geoana, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General, intervenes:

“We need each other more than ever. No single country or continent can compete in this era of great power competition.

NATO will publish its own strategy on standards for the use of AI by this summer. The aim is to propose to the different member states to exploit AI systems in an ethical and responsible manner, to identify military applications but also to provide “a platform for NATO allies to test their AI to see if it complies with these new standards” as explained by David Van Weel, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General. The latter also refers to the fact that the creation of this strategy comes while China is accelerating its use of AI in the military sector:

“I’m not sure if they have the same debates about the principles of ethical and responsible use of AI or if they certainly don’t apply our democratic values to these technologies.”

Ethical guidelines will be developed on how to govern AI systems, such as ensuring that systems can be shut down at any time by a human. David Van Weel continues his statements as to the issue of ethics:

“If an adversary were to use autonomous systems using AI in a way that is not compatible with our values, this would imply that we would have to defend against these systems and conduct a deterrence campaign against their use.”

The creation of this strategy comes against the backdrop of NATO members being at very different stages in terms of the use of AI in the military domain. While the United States clearly prioritizes AI, in Europe, most countries aside from France and the Netherlands, announce little or no use of AI in the defense field. Ulrike Frank, a policy specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations said on this subject:

“It is absolutely not surprising that the United States has a military strategy based on AI even before using AI in other areas. But the Europeans have decided to do the opposite”.

This would echo European traditions on the use of new technologies in the military world and highlights the different approaches to the regulation of AI more generally.

Another topic also appears to be the setting for disagreements between NATO members: that of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS). While the United Kingdom, the United States and France seek to develop these technologies, Belgium and Germany are concerned about their development.

Translated from L’OTAN travaille à l’encadrement de l’utilisation de l’intelligence artificielle dans le domaine militaire